More Than You'll Ever Know
by silentwinterstorm
Summary: Harry and Hermione share a nice little Christmas day together. HHr. A little fluff.. nothing too much. A ficlette inspired by the first snow of the season.


A/N: This short little ficlette was inspired by the first snowflake I've seen fall this year. NO SCHOOL! Disclaimer: I have never/do not/will never own anything to do with Harry Potter. *sniff*  
  
More Than You'll Ever Know  
  
Harry Potter was sitting under his favorite tree on the Hogwarts grounds. It was the end December, Christmas Eve to be exact, and the temperature was a little below freezing. Harry had drunken a warming potion so he could sit outside on this dreary, gray day. He was not in an overall cheerful mood seeing that he had an enormous amount of homework to do over his Christmas break. Sometimes, he thought cheerlessly, life just isn't fair.  
  
Ron was off at The Burrow celebrating the holiday with his family. Harry had, of course, been invited but Dumbledore had strongly suggested that he stay at Hogwarts. Ron went grudgingly to The Burrow without his two best friends. Both boys thought that they had gotten the worse end of the deal. Hermione had stayed at Hogwarts, Harry thought, to keep him company; although, she stayed in the common room doing homework and patrolling the castle for her prefect duties.  
  
The Boy Who Lived was just about to make his way to the Gryffindor tower when he saw Hermione walking slowly towards him. She was looking all around, taking in the environment, and then caught Harry's eye and smiled. She was wearing one of her school robes and skirt and looking very cold when she finally reached where Harry was sitting. "It's going to snow!" Hermione informed Harry excitedly, her voice like a mouse. "You came all the way out here in that," Harry said gesturing toward her clothes, "Just to tell me that? Lord, Hermione, its just snow. It snows every year." Harry finished with a slightly annoyed tone. Hermione knew that he was worried about her getting sick, but it still dampened her spirit a bit. "I just thought you'd like to know," she said timidly, plopping down beside him on the ground. Harry looked over at her and smiled at how childish she got every once in a while. He scooted towards her and put his arm around her comfortably. She, in turn laid her head against his shoulder.  
  
"You should really have at least taken a warming potion before you came out here. Madam Pomfrey is practically throwing them at everybody,"  
  
"Yes, well, sometimes I don't think too clearly, you know that," Hermione said softly.  
  
"Look! It is snowing!" Harry said pointing at a single snowflake falling a few feet away from them.  
  
"I told you!" Hermione said giggling.  
  
They sat in silence watching the snow drift slowly from above. Each were letting their minds wander and thinking of nothing in particular. Suddenly Harry said, "Go up and get dressed! Let's go for a walk!"  
  
"Okay," Hermione agreed, she didn't mind a little exercise every now and then. "I'll meet you right here, then? I'll try not to take too long." She gave Harry a small hug, got off the ground, and walked merrily up to the castle. When she reached the girls dormitories she started digging through her trunk and pulled out some warm clothes. She put on a light pink sweater and some dark blue jeans that flared just a bit at the bottom. When she finished getting dressed, she walked down to the infirmary and asked Madam Pomfrey for a warming potion, she grumbled a bit but handed Hermione the potion. She swallowed it and went outside to where Harry was waiting for her. He was wearing a dark green sweater that brought out the color of his eyes and jeans.  
  
"So, where are we going?" Hermione asked smiling. Harry just gave her a grin and started walking towards the lake. Hermione caught up with him and started making puppy dog faces trying to get his attention.  
  
Harry put his arm around her waist and said, "Just around the lake, no big deal," This seemed to please her, so they walked contentedly along enjoying each other's company. Hermione liked the way Harry was protective of her, the way he would look at her, the way he would die for her. Harry was the person that was always there for her, no matter what. She knew that he would do anything for her, and she would do anything for him.  
  
She was the one he would go to when he needed to talk about serious things in his life, and after Sirius' death, he needed her more than anyone. He could have gone to Ron, but Ron wanted to talk about quidditch and girls, not about life and death. Harry loved being around her, he felt like he could make a difference, he felt in important.  
  
When they finally arrived back at the castle, there was a foot and a half of snow on the ground. Over their walk, the snow had fallen increasingly heavily. They decided that they should go inside and warm up before dinner. As they walked up the stairs to their tower Harry said quietly, "I love being with you, Hermione." Hermione flashed Harry a smile that said, "Yea, Harry, I love you too."  
  
They walked into an empty common room and each went to their own respective dormitories. Hermione changed into drier clothes and descended into the common room where Harry was sitting on a love seat staring into the fire, ha had changed clothes too. She walked slowly over to him and sat down beside him. "What are you thinking about?" she asked quietly.  
  
"You," he answered, still staring into the fire.  
  
"What about me?"  
  
"Nothing, Hermione, lets go eat. I'm starving!"  
  
When they arrived in the Great Hall, they found all the tables were taken out except for one. Harry guessed that he and Hermione were about the only students still in the castle. When everyone arrived, Harry found that there were two other students, both younger Ravenclaws, who had stayed for Christmas. Small talk filled their Christmas Eve dinner and nothing too eventful took place. After dinner Hermione and Harry went back to their common room for the night. They played several games of wizard's chess and exploding snap. Once their games were finished, Harry and Hermione sat down on the couch. Harry put his head in Hermione's lap and stared up at her. Her eyes danced with happiness and Christmas spirit and the fire gave her an unearthly glow.  
  
"You're beautiful," Harry said quietly.  
  
Hermione looked down at him, "So are you."  
  
Harry sat up and gave her a small kiss on the cheek, "I'm going to bed, 'night, Hermione."  
  
"Can I sleep in your dormitory, Harry? I'd really hate to have a whole room to myself, rather lonely."  
  
Harry thought about this for a moment, "Yea, okay, that would be fun."  
  
Hermione went to up to her dormitory, changed into her pajamas, and  
went into the boys' dormitory. "Where do I sleep?" she asked Harry,  
already in his bed.  
  
"Er. Well, you can sleep here if you'd like," Harry said motioning  
toward the other half of his bed. Hermione nodded her head and  
climbed into the bed beside Harry. He put an arm around her and  
kissed the back of her neck.  
  
"Goodnight, love."  
  
"'Night."  
  
Harry awoke early the next morning. He slowly removed himself from  
the bed, careful not to wake Hermione. He took a shower and got  
dressed. When he came out of the bathroom, Hermione was just waking  
up. "Happy Christmas, Hermione," Harry said brightly.  
  
"Happy Christmas," Hermione said sleepily.  
  
Harry went to her side of the bed, bent down, and kissed her forehead.  
"Come on, love, presents!"  
He gave her time to get showered and dressed and prepared her gift.  
She found his and met him in the common room. They sat down on the  
love seat and presented each other their presents.  
  
As Harry unwrapped his present, Hermione looked with anxiety. "Oh  
Hermione, I love it," he said of the watch he had just taken out of  
the small box. "Here's your present," Harry said, handing her a  
jewelry box. Hermione opened it; it was a golden, heart shaped  
locket. Inside, it had a picture of Harry and Hermione. On the back,  
the inscription read: To Hermione Anne Granger, I'll always love you,  
Harry James Potter.  
  
Hermione looked up at Harry with tears in her eyes, "Thank you," she  
said tearfully.  
  
And Harry kissed her.  
  
It was a kiss that changed their lives. They felt every care, every  
problem just leave their bodies. They felt an explosion of color, of  
feelings. Harry was putting every ounce of emotion he'd ever felt  
into this kiss. Harry finally broke the kiss and smiled at her.  
Hermione broke into happy tears and Harry held her there for a moment.  
  
"I love you," he said, "I love you more than anyone or anything I've  
ever known. I love you so much I can't think straight when I'm not  
with you. I'm nothing without you. You're everything to me."  
"I love you too," she said smiling, "more than you'll ever know."  
  
~*~FIN~*~  
Well. what did ya think? I thought it was rather cute ^_^  
Leave a review and you'll get a cookie! 


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